California resturant calorie listings

Gut Buster

On July 1st, California law requires that chain resturants provide menu calorie labeling upon request. Starting in 2011, it will be listed ON THE MENU next to the delectable description. I was stunned to see Cheesecake Factory’s Calories listings. Talk about gut busting. I thought I was doing pretty good by ordering a Chicken Avocado Club Sandwich for lunch. I’ve done Livestrong’s The Daily Plate program before and thought that I knew my calorie numbers fairly good. My estimate: 800cal. Bad but not horrible. But, an astounding 2200 cal for one chicken sandwich blew my mind. That’s not counting the 700cal in the fries, which add up to a whopping 2900 cal lunch for me. Are they smearing lard into the bread or injecting it into the chicken breast? I must have consumed about 4200 cal that day. No wonder it’s so easy to gain weight. These resturants are going to start taking a big time hit soon. Maybe not in 2009, but in 2011 when the listings hit the menus. I stopped ordering 800 cal Toffee Nut Lattes from Starbucks after one trip to NYC back in 2007. It was listed right next to the price. 800cal is much bigger to me than the $5 price tag.